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Brian Donaldson, a minister, worked a phone bank Monday as part of a group called Working Together Jackson. The group is made up of 41 churches and other organizations that were reaching out to voters on the eve of the election. They support the tax hike, but were worried about the expected low turnout.

"It's a special election and it's Jan. 14. That's just the way it's going to be," Roberts said.

City Clerk Brenda Pree said 114,000 people are registered to vote in Jackson.

"This election will be determined by 60 percent of the voting population, so it is important that you go out and vote, whether or not you're voting yes or voting no," Pree said. "It will be determined by 60 percent of the people who actually vote."

The city plans to post results on its website once polls close at 7 p.m.

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said the money raised by the tax increase would pay for roads, sewer and drainage repairs.

Since the beginning of January there have been more than 20 boil-water notices issued in the city because of water pipe problems.

The recent polar blast and subsequent flood of broken water mains in the city seemed to serve the mayor's campaign needs of trying to convince voters that Jackson needs more money to pay for repairs.

"We may be able to leverage that $700 million to over a billion dollars to address our revenue needs," Lumumba said.

The mayor has campaigned at town hall meetings about the problems and the need for a 1 percent sales tax hike to generate millions of dollars over the next 20 years. The increase would not be charged on things like food and medicine.

"I think it is a bad idea because we don't yet know," said Laura Van Overschelde of the Mississippi tea party.

Mississippi tea party officials are adamant about their opposition and claim that while the city clearly has repair needs, just saying, "Fix the infrastructure," in their opinion, is not enough reason to sign off on a 20-year tax hike.

"If he says use that money for infrastructure, that's not enough for the tea party?" 16 WAPT's Scott Simmons asked Van Overschelde.

"Well, what is infrastructure?" she responded.

"Roads, pipes, drainage, sewer," Simmons said.

"When you start a project like that, you have to have details. We have not seen the details," she said.

Lumumba said he has gone to great lengths to explain the use of the tax money, if approved by voters.

"There are folks who have philosophies against taxation," Lumumba said.

The city would leverage the revenue raised and collected from increased sewer and water rates to secure bonds, Lumumba said. That would provide even more money, not only to fix damaged roads, but at the same time, the drainage and sewer problems that run underneath them.

"We are only talking about a penny for a dollar, and at the same time, we have such critical needs and don't have any place to go," Lumumba said.

If voters approve the measure, it would increase Jackson from a 7 percent sales tax rate to 8 percent. By comparison, that would still be lower than Baton Rouge, La., at 9 percent, Birmingham, Ala., at 10 percent and Little Rock, Ark., at 11 percent.